Around 18 Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and five children, arrived in Ankara for treatment after being seriously injured during the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza. A Turkish military plane, medically staffed and equipped, transferred the wounded persons from Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening. Turkish Health Ministry provided the injured with all necessary medical services once the plane landed in the Turkish airport. Turkish officials including Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay and Health Minister Mohammed Ihsanoglu received and welcomed the injured in the airport before being transferred in ambulances to hospitals. The Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared on Tuesday, while receiving four other wounded persons in Ankara Esenboga airport, his country's intention to organize a humanitarian airlift to transfer the biggest possible number of injured Palestinians

The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) in the Gaza Strip estimated the initial losses of the agricultural sector caused by the Israeli aggression by about 200 million dollars. It also said that the losses of the livestock production hit 40 million dollars, the losses of the fishing sector reached 10 million dollars, while the plant production lost 150 million dollars. The PARC stated in a press release that since the beginning of the aggression it has launched the "Relief Gaza" campaign and started offering quick relief to the population and the displaced people, whose number reached 10 thousand people. Due to the acute water shortages in the shelters, the PARC has distributed since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza about 490 water tanks each with a capacity of 1000 liters, in all the governorates of the Strip, in addition to 330 reservoirs each with a capacity of 20 liters to the families in the shelters. The PARC has also distributed 1,155 food baskets and 855 health units to the displaced families

The Palestinian Water Authority said on Thursday that the water distribution network in Gaza had suffered $34.4 million worth of damage as a result of the Israeli offensive over the last five weeks, including dozens of destroyed facilities.

The immense scale of the destruction of Gaza's infrastructure has only become increasingly apparent over the last two weeks, as a relative calm due to back-to-back temporary ceasefire has allowed authorities to survey the damage.

The water authority said in a statement that 11 water wells had been completely destroyed and 15 partially destroyed in the assault, while 17 kilometers of water supply networks were completely destroyed and another 29 partially destroyed.

The authority also said that 5 water containers were completely destroyed while 11 water containers were partially or severely damaged, while two desalination units were completely destroyed, and four were partially damaged.

In addition, more than seven kilometers of sewage networks were completely destroyed and more than 10 kilometers partially destroyed, while 12 pumping sewage stations were severely damaged and four waste-water treatment stations were partially destroyed.

$9 million worth of damages, meanwhile, were caused to water services vehicles and machinery.

The water network would also require some $32.6 million worth of emergency supplies to cover the Strip's water needs for the next six months, the authority added, highlighting that because of the damage sustained by an Israeli airstrike on the territory's sole power plant, fuel for the water network was an urgent concern.

The Gaza water sector needs $620 million worth to develop water services and facilities, the authority estimated in the statement, of which $240 million had already been provided for by donors for water desalination, sewage treatment projects and other short- and medium-term projects.

Israeli artillery fired two shells at agricultural land east of Khan Younis on Thursday afternoon, witnesses said, disrupting the calm of the first day of a five-day ceasefire that Palestinian factions have so far adhered to.

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that Israeli artillery deployed near the al-Sareej site fired at an area east of Khan Younis.

No injuries were reported in the strike.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident.

According to a statement by the Diaspora Affairs department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouk Shami announced his decision Wednesday following a meeting with active members of the Palestinian community in the United States.

Shami's decision to invest in the Gaza Strip, according to the statement, stems from his willingness to help develop the Palestinian economy and create job opportunities through practical steps.

This willingness, has been strengthened after the Israeli military offensive against the coastal enclave which destroyed facilities and infrastructure, greatly increasing unemployment.

The intended university, according to the PLO statement, will have close relations with the Farouk Systems factory to be created in Gaza. A portion of the factory's profits will cover the running costs of the university, whose students will be entitled to training and employment at the factory.

Deputy secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziad al-Nakhaala said on Thursday that a long-term ceasefire that would include the lifting of the siege on Gaza would be announced soon, stressing that "great progress" had been made in negotiations.

The announcement, which comes on the first day of a five-day ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants, raises hopes that a long-term truce will materialize after more than two weeks of negotiations that have so far yielded few results.

The breakthrough comes after Israel reportedly dropped its demand that Palestinian militant groups inside Gaza disarm, while apparently acceding to demands by the Palestinian delegation that the eight-year long economic blockade of the Strip be lifted.

Al-Nakhaala said on Thursday that progress had been made in the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, and that agreements had been reached on the opening of crossings into Gaza, facilitating the entry of goods, expanding the fishing zone, and ending the Israeli imposed "security buffer zone" that encompasses nearly 20 percent of the Gaza Strip's territory.

Al-Nakhaala also added that Israel had agreed to commence talks on the re-opening of an airport and seaport in Gaza in a month, a key Palestinian demand.

Israel destroyed Gaza's only airport in 2001 and has imposed a limit of three nautical miles on all boats from the enclave, crippling the fishing industry and ensuring total Israeli blockade of Gaza's land, air, and sea entries.

Al-Nakhaala added that despite the progress, Israel was still pushing back on certain demands, including the entry of construction materials. He added, however, that even this dispute had been resolved with an agreement that the materials received be monitored by the Palestinian Authority.

He also said that Israel had dropped its earlier demand that Palestinian militant groups disarm due to Egyptian efforts.

The Palestinian delegation also discussed with the Egyptians the opening of the Rafah crossing, to which the Egyptians responding by promising to provide facilitation, he said.

Israeli television Channel 2 on Thursday, meanwhile, said that the Israeli ceasefire delegation would return to Cairo from Saturday evening until Monday night to continue talks for a lasting ceasefire.

The station said the talks are expected to include discussions on transferring the salary of government employees in Gaza.

More than 1,950 Palestinians -- the vast majority civilians -- have been killed in the five-week Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, which the UN said destroyed or severely damaged the homes of more than 100,000 Gazans.

Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization officials have insisted that Israel end its eight-year siege on the Gaza Strip, release dozens of prisoners whom Israel has re-arrested that were released in 2011 as part of the Shalit exchange, re-open a seaport and airport in Gaza, and create a safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The demands are consistent with the terms of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, but which Israel has failed to abide by amid its refusal to consider direct negotiations of any kind with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.

Israeli authorities have said that they would be willing to extend the ceasefire indefinitely but previously stressed that a long-term agreement should include the demilitarization of the Strip.

Hamas has scoffed at this demand, saying it was al-Qassam fighters who prevented the full-scale infiltration and re-occupation of Gaza by Israeli forces in recent weeks.

Before another temporary ceasefire last week, Israeli forces pulled out of major Gaza cities and redeployed on the Israeli side of the border, although airstrikes and shelling on Gazan cities continued between temporary ceasefires.

Asked about the Rafah crossing, which is controlled by Egypt and frequently closed, he said that "we understood from the Egyptians was that they would introduce satisfactory facilitations."

Israel and Gaza fighters were holding their fire Thursday after the new truce got off to a shaky start, with night-time rocket fire followed by Israeli air strikes.

The Israeli army said that there had been no fighting for several hours, since Israeli air raids into Gaza finished around 3 a.m.

Palestinians had fired two rockets into southern Israel two hours earlier, after a five-day ceasefire extension was to have taken effect.

An army spokeswoman said that aircraft hit rocket-launching sites, weapons caches and "centers of terrorist activity" but could not give a precise number.

An official at the Palestinian interior ministry reported four air strikes over open ground about 30 minutes after an existing 72-hour truce was extended at midnight for another five days.

More than 1,950 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side have been killed since July 8, when Israel launched its offensive.

After days of shuttle diplomacy, the agreement clinched by Egypt ushered in what is potentially the longest period of calm in the five-week conflict and will allow more time for talks on the thorniest issues that separate the two sides, the Palestinians said.

An earlier truce collapsed in a firestorm of violence on Aug. 8.

Palestinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmad said in Cairo that more time was needed to discuss "some" remaining disputes with Israel over a long-term truce.

However, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouq said Wednesday evening that the Palestinian and Israeli delegations haven’t reached an agreement on any points during the indirect negotiations in Cairo through Egyptian mediators.

Abu Marzouq’s comments, in an interview with the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen satellite channel, contradicted an announcement by senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad who heads Palestinian all-faction delegation.

Al-Ahmad had said earlier on Wednesday evening that a major breakthrough was made on several points and that only specific details remained for discussion.

But Abu Marzouq said the only agreement reached was to extend the ceasefire by five more days.

"There is nothing we can say we reached agreement on," Abu Marzouq told al-Mayadeen, "and we still need rounds of talks."

The Hamas leader said that the main source of disagreement was the terminology used by the Israeli negotiator.

"In each sentence of the agreement’s clauses, they insert a word here and a word there to change the intended meaning of Palestinian demands."

He added that "what Israel gives with the right hand, it takes it back with the left."

The Palestinian delegation is scheduled to leave Cairo Thursday for consultation with Palestinian officials before they return next week.

The Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade on Thursday published a video accusing Israel of hiding the true death toll among its troops in Gaza, challenging Israel to "reveal the fate of an Israeli officer" it says the group killed.

In a message addressed to the Israeli people in Hebrew, an anonymous spokesman for the al-Aqsa Brigades said that the group "challenges Israel to reveal the fate of their engineering officer Sani Tomen Yaron, holder of military number 7599999."

The spokesman said that Yaron, whose name could also be "Yaron Snitman," had "fallen" in unspecified clashes after an ambush by al-Aqsa

fighters in Beit Hanoun, but did not give details as to whether he had been captured or killed.

He accused Netanyahu of "lying" to the Israeli people, saying that the Israeli prime minister "hides the number of soldiers injured and killed in the battle."

The spokesman also went on to condemn the "crimes" committed by Netanyahu "against our children, women and elderly."

"Because he could not fight our men in the field, he destroyed houses over the heads of their residents," the spokesman added.

"You are not safe if our people do not live in freedom and independence," he said, adding: "We will resist until the end; killing for killing, shelling for shelling, and horror for horror."

An Israeli military spokeswoman, however, denied the reports, saying that she knew of the soldier and that "he is home and fine and everything is okay."

No soldier named "Sani Tomen Yaron" nor "Yaron Snitman" was listed among the casualty records that have been released by the Israeli military. Palestinians have previously accused Israel of downplaying the death toll among its soldiers.

The army says that 64 soldiers have been killed since the onset of the ground invasion of Gaza, while more than 1,000 have been injured.

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in July claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier named Oron Shaul, which Israeli forces initially denied but later admitted had been killed in battle without his body being recovered.

In early August, Israeli forces accused Palestinian militants of captured an Israeli soldier during an ambush near Rafah, which the group denied. Israeli forces responded by bombarding Rafah, killing around 150.

Israel has in the past exchanged the bodies of dead Israeli soldiers for Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails, as well as the bodies of militants that were being held by Israel.

An Israel-Hezbollah exchange in 2008 traded the bodies of two Israeli soldiers for five Lebanese prisoners as well as the remains of nearly 200 Palestinian and Lebanese militants in Israeli custody.

At least 6,500 Palestinian prisoners are currently being held in Israeli prisons.